Sound of Summer
by TheUnsungStoryteller
Summary: After a rocky start, Katniss and Peeta have spent the better part of spring term hosting the most popular radio show on WCUX and somehow managing a semi-functional relationship in the process. Now, the pair is facing a new set of challenges- challenges that only an entire semester and ocean apart could cause. Sequel to Radio Rebel. Rating is M for lemons & language.
1. To the Last

**Welcome everyone! For those of you jumping over to this story because of Radio Rebel, I'm so glad to have you back. For all of you newcomers, I am so very excited about having you join this world with us- hopefully you're in for a fun journey.**

**Welcome to Sound of Summer.**

Bio: After a rocky start, Katniss and Peeta have spent the better part of spring term hosting the most popular radio show on WCUX and somehow managing a semi-functional relationship in the process. Now, as Peeta prepares for his artists' fellowship in Europe and Katniss has landed an internship with Coin Recording Studios, the pair is facing a new set of challenges- challenges that only a entire semester and ocean apart could cause. Sequel to Radio Rebel.

Rated M for language and the occasional lemony fun.

**Peeta POV**

Outfit of the Day: Camo cargo shorts, "The Endless Summer" t-shirt

Song of the Moment: To the Last by James Blake

The entire gang was gathered around the girls' living room, everyone getting more and more temperamental the longer they sat. The humidity from the disgusting Panem weather was creeping in to the apartment. And it sure didn't help matters any that their air conditioning was out and their landlord had conveniently left for vacation- leaving the ladies to fend for themselves. So they all sat, a cranky, sweaty, mess of college coeds.

"Why don't we just go to Gale and Maysilee's new place? They got air conditioning _and _Gale keeps plenty of cold beer on tap at all times." Peeta asked and looked around the room hopefully. If there was one thing he was known for it was his ability to make lemons out of lemonade. It didn't look like anyone in this group was buying it though.

Johanna Mason, clad in nothing but her barely-there bikini shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the other side of the room. "Oh great, lets hang out with another married couple! I'm sure you'd love that, Mellark." She rolled her eyes and pressed her Bud Lite to her forehead. The condensation was quickly sliding from the bottle and trickling down her face. "No sir. I'd rather take my chances with heatstroke here."

Peeta scratched the back of his neck and craned to look back at his girlfriend for a little help. No matter how close they had all gotten, he couldn't help but feel a little out of his element with Johanna. Katniss, of course, had said quick retorts would come to him easier after a while. But even after nearly seven months together, he hadn't figured out how to deal with her best girl friend.

Katniss glanced down at Peeta, seated on the floor underneath her place on the couch and placed a gentle hand on top of his sweaty, curly head. "Shut up, Jo. Besides, Gale is picking up some extra shifts at the factory to pay for the new reception venue for the wedding. Mays is pulling no punches for this thing."

Peet seized the opportunity to reach up and link his fingers with hers. Even though Gale had given her the news months ago, Katniss was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that her best friend was getting married. And as… complicated as his relationship with Gale had been in the past, Peeta knew that Kat losing her best friend was hard for her to deal with.

"Okay," Madge started, fanning her face with a dainty, manicured hand, "so what options does that leave us with? I'm just as anxious as anyone to get out of this pit."

Now it was Finnick's turn to offer a solution, his girlfriend Annie by his side. "We could always just head back to me and Peet's place and watch Saturday Night Live."

Everyone in the group groaned at that solution. As much of a homebody as Peeta and Katniss had become over the course of their short romance, even he thought that idea lacked a certain zest. They were a group of early twenty-something's that had just completed their exams for their junior year of college. They were seniors and it was the start of summer, yet here they all were, gathered around complaining.

It was borderline pathetic. "Well I wasn't going to say anything because I know that Cato Koch is-"

"Fucking hate that prick!" Johanna cut in, slapping her hand against the worn leather of her La-Z-Boy.

Peeta continued with a laugh. "-is nobody's favorite guy around here. But he mentioned that he was throwing a 'huge rager'," Peeta placed air quotes around the phrase, "tonight. He invited us all last time I was at the station, if anyone is down for that."

Johanna, Finnick, Annie and Madge all mulled it over for a moment before nodding in agreement. Katniss hesitated for a beat before offering a small smile. If there was one thing they all needed to do tonight, it was blow off a little steam.

The semester had barely been over for 24 hours before I was getting antsy for Europe.

Of course I was glad to be tying up the loose ends on the final semester of my junior year at Templesmith University, but at my core, I just couldn't get out of town fast enough. I've always prided myself on being content with wherever I am at the moment, making the most of my present situations. However, with a measly week left in the Midwest before the summer of a lifetime, I couldn't help but yearn for that stamp on my fresh passport.

I had won the infamous Heavensbee Fellowship at the end of first semester, which guaranteed an all expense paid summer in Europe, studying under the modern masters of the trade. Only 12 students nationwide were selected each term and the application process only rolled around every two years. My drunken mentor had submitted my work to the gallery undercover, when I had refused to apply myself. And by some stroke of miracle, I won. Now I was in for the experience of a lifetime, if only I could get out of Panem County.

Which was probably why, after an afternoon of lounging around with my friends, I was even remotely enthusiastic about going to a "Cato Party", as Katniss so deftly referred to it. Since we'd decided to go, she'd been withdrawn, barely saying anything on our walk to the party.

"Kat, what's going on? You seem even less excited now than when we were at the apartment- which I thought was impossible."

The two of us walked behind the rest of the group, the sidewalk not allowing for more than a two-by-two sequence. The backs of our hands brushed up against each other neither by accident or intention as the walked. "I am just not the biggest fan of Cato Parties, you know that." She aimlessly kicked a fallen pinecone with the toe of her boot. "He annoys me to no end and I wish that we had another option for tonight."

I didn't bother reminding her that we hand endless options for tonight. We could head back to my apartment right now and watch a bootleg copy of The Wolf of Wall Street I picked up last Christmas instead (What can I say? I'm always in the mood for a Leo movie.). "Katniss, I-"

"I know, _we don't have to go_. But it's the beginning of summer and we're _seniors _now and you're going away in a week." She waved her hand dismissively. There it goes. As well as she's done at hiding it lately; the fact that I was leaving really wasn't sitting well with her. Not that I could blame her in the slightest.

I stopped walking. "Let's spend tonight together- just you and me then." Katniss turned to face me, took one stride in my direction and looked me square in the eyes. Something flared in them, the same fire that I had loved from the first moment I had seen her.

"We're going to this party, Peeta Mellark. I'm not going to be the wet blanket that keeps us in another Saturday night. You're going to Europe for your fellowship –and I couldn't be prouder of you- but I want us to have just one night where we can be a normal college couple before you leave. I'm going to be here for three entire months without you and I would like to –just for once- be a decent, non-selfish, girlfriend!"

Her voice had suddenly risen high enough that the rest of the group, nearly an entire block ahead of us at that point, decided to turn around and see what was happening. "Jesus, Lucy and Ricky, can we puh-lease get the lead out?!" Johanna called from the front. And for once, I was grateful for her interruption. I couldn't quite place the sudden burst of frustration on Katniss' part, but I had learned that it was best for us to handle things of this nature like imported china- delicately and with care.

Katniss blushed, knowing that she had allowed her emotions get the best of her. That was one thing she didn't take lightly, not being in control of every situation she found herself in- especially on the rare occasion that she found herself blowing up with absolutely no provocation.

We started back towards the rest of the group, Annie offering the two of us a knowing (yet vaguely sympathetic) smile from a distance. I leaned over to Kat to whisper in her ear. "I'm going to go out on a limb and vote that we find a minute to talk at some point tonight."

She nodded her head quickly and visibly fought to regain her composure. It was strange, this balance between us. Since coming on staff to join her radio show Fall semester, it had been me chasing Katniss- trying to hold onto her. And now that I was headed away, it seemed like Katniss was trying to hold onto _me_. Not that she had anything to worry about. I was in this thing for the long haul and told her so every time I got the chance. Sometimes, I guess, words just aren't enough.

We rounded the corner and the party was very obviously in full swing. The music could be heard clearly from where we stood and Katniss was visibly cringing at whatever playlist he had going. Her taste in music was nearly insatiable. Johanna and Madge, however, looked more than ready to get inside.

Unlike the rest of us, Madge and Jo had actually bothered to change into something fresh for the party. Jo was donning a pair of leather shorts (I had to wonder how she was managing the heat) and some type of corset/bra thing, whereas Madge had gone full out, wearing a bedazzled bra underneath a fire-red bolero jacket. She was also sporting some outrageously high heels.

Needless to say, this scene was more theirs than the rest of us.

Finn and I were wearing different variations of the same ensemble and Annie and Katniss had been wearing the same clothes all day. To be honest, I think we were all just looking to get out of that apartment. "Cato is one annoying shit but he does know how to throw a party." Johanna tousled her asymmetrical bob as she stepped up onto the porch. She turned to Katniss and Madge. "Remember that Halloween party sophomore year, you two?"

Katniss visibly stiffened beside me. Madge piped up, oblivious. "Yes!" She nudged Kat in her ribs. "You have to remember! You never went out and then the one time you got here and-"

Before she could continue, Katniss sucker-punched her in her gut.

"Jesus, Everdeen!" Johanna rushed to Madge's side and rubbed her back. "Who the hell died and made you Mike Tyson?" I turned to her, awestruck. She had never hit anyone as long as I'd known her. Never so much as lifted a hand in anger to anyone, let alone her well-meaning best friend. Katniss stuttered out a reply.

"I'm sorry, Madge, you guys. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me tonight." Katniss ran a hand through her hair and sighed heavily. I looked down at my watch, it was nearing 12:30 and my girlfriend had already snapped on me/punched her friend in the stomach. This night was gearing up to be one for the record books. "Are you okay, Madge?"

Finnick grabbed my elbow, nodded his depart to Annie (as she tended to a still hunched over Madge), and pulled me inside the party. I stumbled behind him, still reeling over watching my girlfriend turn into a heavyweight champion before my very eyes. We breezed past throngs of gyrating bodies in the living room and found solace in the kitchen before Finn dropped my arm.

"What the actual fuck, dude?" I rubbed my temples and shook my head. For the first time in a very long time, I had absolutely no idea what to say. My girlfriend of seven months has finally snapped? Katniss is just upset about me leaving for the summer? She didn't do well on her Audio Technologist final exam? "What is going on with you and Katniss? She's even more on edge than usual."

Normally I would say something in her defense, argue that she's not on edge- just very contentious. Tonight though, there was nothing to be said. Things were weird and I didn't even understand where to begin. "I don't know, man. Ever since I suggested coming out here tonight she's been tense. Maybe it was a bad idea." I shook my head, some of my stray hair falling into my eyes. It had gotten a little too long and I probably needed to get it cut before I left next week.

"Yeah, you think?" Finn threw his hands into the air in dramatic fashion. We got a couple stares, of course, considering the guy's height. My best friend probably clocked in at a solid 6' 4" with bright copper hair.

"I told her we could go back home! She _wanted _to come." I crossed my arms across my chest. "It's not like we ever leave the house anyway." I found myself repeating the same words that Katniss had shouted at me back on the sidewalk. As much as I wished I didn't notice, there were two sides to this coin. Where on one side, just us together was enough for me (and always, _always _would be), I couldn't help but wonder what we were missing out on by limiting ourselves to the same plans every weekend.

We were young, college aged kids and we were already acting like we were 40 years old. So she had a point. Maybe we did need a night like this after all.

But if that was true, then why did everything feel so crappy?

**Katniss**

Style of the Day: Chicago Bulls #23 jersey, jean cutoff shorts, combat boots

Song of the Moment: Deadbeat Summer by Neon Indian

I had officially snapped.

That's just it; I had literally lost my mind. Everyone's faces in the moment that I punched Madge was enough to tell me that. If that wasn't enough, the way Finn and Peeta had run away directly afterwards was a pretty good indicator.

"Are you okay, Madge?" I asked, taking a step towards my small friend. She straightened up and brushed her carefully curled blonde hair back over her shoulder. Even with the confused/upset look on her face, the girl still managed to look adorable. She just had that quality about her and it was making me feel even worse about the fact that I'd just sucker-punched her.

Jo spoke first. "Listen bitch, I know you don't drink or smoke or do anything remotely entertaining, but you should seriously consider it. You've been a lunatic since the minute we left tonight. You need to get it the fuck together." Jo, in an untypically Jo fashion, threw an arm over Madge's shoulder and ushered her into the party. Her foul language was even sharper against my ears than usual tonight, because I knew that she was right. Annie took a moment before leaving me. She sat down on the concrete and pat the ground next to her.

"You're upset." I briefly considered pointing out how obvious a statement that was but decided against it. This was Annie we were talking about. Everything she said was laced with good intentions. All of her words were delivered for a purpose.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them. My heart rate had increased to a nearly dangerous level and I felt like I was breathing through a straw. My anxiety was getting the best of me and I couldn't help but be grateful that only kind-hearted Annie Cresta was here to see this.

"Everything sucks, A." I mumbled. That was an overstatement. All things considered, my life was probably in a better place than it ever had been. I had a boyfriend who loved me, a sister who was headed to a top-tier university; actual, honest to goodness _friends_- things were legitimately pleasant. My only concerns were Peeta's impending departure date next week and being here, at Cato's house, for the first time since last Halloween.

Everything still looked the same: the cracked OSU flowerpot on the porch, the overgrown grass in the front yard. It was me who was different. I wasn't the same girl who had come here a year ago and made the worst decision of my life.

Those feelings were all too potent as I sat there with Annie, my head hung in a mixture of shame and regret. And it was no longer just because I punched Madge (which was still a really sucky thing for me to have done, but she was dangerously close to saying too much). "I shouldn't have come here tonight. My reasoning made sense back at the house but now they just feel stupid."

She just rubbed circles on my back and willed me to continue. "I wish that I could go back and change everything, you know? That would make all of this easier." Annie didn't need for me to say any more. She knew the conditions of my relationship with Peeta. She knew that even though we'd been dating for nearly seven months, we weren't having sex. Had _never _had sex with one another.

In a sense, it was because neither of us wanted to take such a big step without knowing we were in it for the long haul. We didn't want to make a commitment of that magnitude without believing in it on more than a purely physical level. And now, even after those doubts had ebbed from my mind, I couldn't bring myself to make love to my boyfriend. Even though I wanted to.

All because of what happened last Halloween.

"Kat, you always push your own boundaries to see how much heartache you can take. That is not fair to you or to Peeta. I knew that coming here was going to be hard for you but it is your realization that matters." Annie stood and dusted off her black jeans. After spending a life on the coast, weather like this was nothing to her. She extended her hand to me and helped me up. We had been outside for much longer than I intended.

I ran a quick hand through my hair to gain some semblance of control. I could be a normal college kid for a night. I could set aside my discomfort and dance in public with my boyfriend. I would be okay.

I probably wouldn't even run into Cato tonight, this party was so packed.

Not that we didn't see each other at the radio station all of the time or anything, because we did. He hosted a show that had a time slot, which often ran over into my own. Many a night had I been forced to kick him out of _my _studio so I could work. After all, I could probably credit taking over his airwaves that one night to how Peeta and I got back together in the first place.

Annie asked me if I was going to be all right before heading off to find Finnick. The two of them had been practically inseparable since meeting last year. Since Finn and Peet were such good friends, it made sense that Annie and Finnick would get to know each other rather quickly. Little did any of us know that that guy was going to confess his love for her on the first night we all went out together. After that, you could hardly find one without the other. The whole thing would have been insufferable if they were so darn precious.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Peeta give me a generous wave from his spot in the living room. He was standing near a group of guys that I recognized as his old wrestling buddies next to the obnoxious stereo system that the gracious host had set up. As I crossed the room to meet him, narrowly avoiding a number of sweaty, twisting bodies, a huge form blocked my path. I rammed directly into a broad chest, nose pressed into a V-neck t-shirt that reeked of Top 40 Rock music and Old Spice. I knew that smell.

"Well, if it isn't Katniss Everdeen!" He started, leaning down to my ear. His breath was already dripping with the scent of cheap alcohol. "Never thought I'd get the _pleasure,_" he dragged out the word mercilessly, "of having you in my humble abode again so soon."

I wanted to vomit. Anything, anything but a drunk Cato Koch.

He had been drinking that night. I had too, a little, even though I never drank. _It had clouded my judgment_, I reminded myself. _I wouldn't have done it otherwise, _I silently urged. It was simple to repeat these mantras inside of my own mind. I wished that the reality were as equally easy to erase.

"Get out of my face, Cato. Don't you have some Nickleback to listen to?" I attempted to push past him and he gripped my arm, yanking me back towards him quickly. My body size wasn't able to argue the sheer magnitude of his brute force. I stumbled backwards into him.

"You're bein' awful sassy tonight, Everdeen. You weren't being so sassy on Halloween, were you? The way you squirmed made me forget how pure _nasty _you can really be, huh?" I was going to be sick. Right here, in the middle of this party, I was going to be sick.

He never dared say anything about that night at the radio station. In my blind naiveté, maybe I just thought that we had an unspoken agreement never to speak of it again. But then again, he'd always been a cheap drunk.

"I said to get your hands off of me, you fucking wildebeest!" I yanked my arm away again, no longer concerned about causing a scene. My only concern was grabbing Peeta and getting the hell out of dodge. This had been a big, big mistake.

He must have been watching the scene from where he stood, because before I knew it, Peeta was at my side and Cato was on the ground, clutching his nose. The trickle of blood dripping down was the last thing I saw before multiple hands began grabbing us from all sides, quickly guiding us out of the front door. I was filled with a strange sense of terror and shock at the situation that had just unfolded. This night had been one awful series of unfortunate events to the Mellark/Everdeen team tonight.

The hands that had guided us outside all gathered around; Finn, Annie, a furious Johanna and a wildly confused Madge all stood silently, waiting for either of us nutbags to explain ourselves. As usual, Peeta spoke first.

"Hey guys, I think it's best if we just called it a night, huh?" For the first time since we'd left, I stole a glance at Peeta. He was rubbing his left knuckle with one hand but never took his eyes off of mine. His nostrils were flaring. His chest was rising up and down in time to the uptempo synth-club beat inside. If I didn't know him better, I'd say that he was angry. Peeta Mellark, my sweet, idealistic boyfriend was livid.

Everyone simply nodded in agreement and turned their separate ways. Jo and Madge undoubtedly heading to another party, since we'd effectively killed their buzz from this one.

Now it was just the two of us, standing in Cato-fucking-Koch's front yard.

Once again, it was Peeta who broke the silence. "Are you going to tell me what's really happening now, or are we just going to pretend like this hasn't been the worst night in history?"

I took one deep breath. This was my chance to explain everything. Why I couldn't sleep with him. Why I hated Cato with a fiery passion (past just his deplorable taste in music). Why I still couldn't bring myself to sleep with him.

But when I opened my mouth, none of that came out. Instead, I wrestled with my emotions as I choked back a muffled sob.

Peeta, forgetting his own anger for a moment, rushed to wrap his arms around my body. He brushed my hair down with one and pulled me closed to him with the other. "Shh, shh…" He whispered into the top of my hair. That was it. I had to tell him.

"Peeta," I pulled back to look him in the eyes, furiously wiping the tears from my cheeks. "Peeta, the reason I've been acting weird tonight is because I…" How did you tell the man that you loved that you were too much of a coward to wait for him? That you were too weak to withstand that 'peer pressure' that parents warn their kid about?

"Because last year, at his Halloween party… I lost my virginity to Cato Koch."

**Well everyone, that was a little bit dramatic. This story is going to have just enough drama to keep things interesting along the way. Let me know what you thought, what you think is going to happen or just tell me a delightful anecdote that will light up my life- as long as your typing something into that little review box down there! **

**Also, as a side-note, while reading Radio Rebel is not completely mandatory, I do suggest it.**


	2. Swift Arrows

**Katniss POV**

Style of the Day: Black yoga pants, PHS Varsity Basketball hoodie, Nike cross trainers.

Song of the Moment: Swift Arrows by Shelby Earl

Shelby Earl's soulful voice drifted through the nearly empty bar, adding a somewhat delicate soundtrack to an otherwise fraught environment. Katniss sat at the bar; nursing the Vanilla Coke she'd gotten nearly thirty minutes ago, still unable to finish.

The Make, like most music venues, didn't officially open their doors until later in the evening (and even then only admitted 21 and olders) but Katniss was the exception to both rules. She'd been a fixture in this place since she was old enough to know what a fake ID looked like and had skills valuable enough to any local indie artist for them to overlook her age.

So when she knocked on the rear employee entrance of the run-down club at 2 in the afternoon, she knew that Cray would be there to let her in.

This place had acted as a refuge for her for a long time. It wasn't the way she could get lost in a crowd when she came here, but her ability to get lost in the music. On those nights where an exceptional band found purchase on the stage, she could swear she felt the music coursing through her veins. She just knew that the beat was somehow in time with her heart.

It was also the spot of she and Peeta's first "date" all of those months ago. Even though, deep down, she knew that she wasn't the same girl now that she was then.

"You want me to get another drink for you, Kat? You went and let that one get all watery and shit." Cray muttered gruffly from behind the counter. Even the tattooed bartender was giving her some sort of stability today.

Not that Cray had ever been especially comforting –quite the opposite in fact. The man, who she figured was in his late 20's; was bald and sported a completely inked head along with complete sleeves on both arms and more piercings in his face than she cared to count. But, as always, she could expect him to be short-winded and attentive as he straightened his bar before the evening rush.

Katniss wordlessly slid her glass towards him and balanced her chin on her fists. She had a few hours until tonight's band would be showing up for sound check, so she was promised solitude until then.

The apartment had just felt heavy with words unspoken this morning when she spotted a hungover Madge in the kitchen nursing an intense migraine. She and Jo had stumbled in at some point during the early morning but Katniss had been too distraught to notice anything. After the night she'd had, there wasn't much she _could _say.

So instead of pretending like everything was completely normal -like she hadn't made an ass of herself the night before- she would just go for a run, clear her mind a bit. According to her "track my run" app, she had done 4.5 miles before she found herself at the club.

Cray slid her fresh drink back to her and slapped the dishrag down on the wooden bar. "You've never been much of a talker, Everdeen. I always liked that about you. Never asked too many questions either never offered too much information other than what was asked of you." He placed his hands on the damp surface and leaned forward. "And you've spent more silent afternoons in here than I can count. But I've never seen you like this."

For the first time since she'd sat down, Katniss made eye contact with him. He was right, of course. "Who picks this music, Cray?"

The corners of his lips twitched up slightly. "I do. It's my bar, after all." Katniss finally drank out of the glass he'd placed in front of her. "What? You don't like Shelby Earl?" She finished her drink and frowned.

"No, I like her." She laughed mirthlessly and shook her head. "This song is just a little too appropriate." Cray nodded without saying anything, dropping his rag into a bucket of soapy water. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back against his shelves of cheap booze and looked at her. "I think me and my boyfriend broke up last night. I'm not too sure but I think we did."

It was the first time she had said the words aloud, although she'd been thinking them since Peeta had left her standing in Cato's yard the night before. Katniss looked down at the bar. The initials RJ+CF were carved into the wood and she couldn't help but wonder if those two were still in love- if whatever compelled them to write their initials however long ago still applied.

Katniss traced her finger over the letters. "How come you bought this bar, Cray?"

She was anxious to change the subject.

"Well, you know, I was a lot like you 15 years ago. Grew up in Panem," he started, cracking open a beer and taking a sip. "And I fucking hated the scene, you know? Didn't want to grow up and get miserable like my old man, trudging into the factory everyday of my life. And one day, 15 years old and pissed off at the world, I climbed out my window and just walked. I walked until I ended up outside these very doors.

And I shit you not; you know that old jukebox we used to have? Well, I guess someone had finally gotten that old thing working for the night. And I stood on the sidewalk on that Saturday night and heard Wonderwall by Oasis for the first time. It changed my life."

She laughed. Oasis had seriously changed his life?

He flipped her off with his free hand and laughed lightly himself. "Seriously! Suddenly music was everywhere and everything became a soundtrack. I stood outside every night listening to what was playing in here because I was too young to get in. Finally, the old man who owned this joint pitied me enough to give me a job cleaning toilets or some shit. Didn't matter to me so long as I was inside, where the good stuff was happening."

Cray shook his head fondly, obviously getting lost in the memory.

"Well, I worked here until I graduated, doing odd jobs and stuff. And then as some sort of crazy graduation present, the old man gave me the keys to the place. Just said 'Here, Shithead, it's yours. Make sure to take care of it.' And walked away. Seriously, just like that! So I skipped college –not that I was planning on it anyway- and I've been running this joint into the ground ever since."

Katniss smiled, pleasantly surprised at the tale. She had been in and out of this place her entire adolescence and never known where Cray had come from. The edgy guy actually had a story to him. "That's crazy."

"Yeah, I know." He finished off his beer and tossed the can in the recycling bin behind the counter. "And don't think I don't know when someone is trying to change the subject on me, either." Cray rolled his eyes at her and she shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

"I only told you that because I see a lot of myself when I look at you. Just a kid who is in love with the music and thinks that's gonna be their route to avoiding everything. You gotta know that people need people, you know? The music's nothing if you don't have somebody to share it with."

She pushed her barstool back and stared at the bartender intensely. "When did you turn into some kind of guru, Cray?" Now it was his turn to shrug. "Hey, um, would you mind if I used the piano for a second? It's been a while." Katniss jerked her chin in the direction of the beat up old piano in the corner. He gave her a smile and shooed her from his counter before disappearing into the back room. They didn't usually speak but somehow he knew when Katniss needed her space.

When she sat down on the worn bench, a flood of memories poured over her. All of those nights where she'd sat in the audience at her father's shows, listening to him captivate an entire audience with his artistry. She was reminded of those days where she'd watch him compose original melodies at their kitchen table, sheet music covering the ever-present stack of bills. It had been a long time since she'd had the nerve to play again.

As her fingers brushed the keys, though, slowly it came back to her. And before she realized it, the sounds of the piano's melody were at once blending with her own, her voice mingling with the notes. She'd never considered herself a vocalist, never even sang in front of Gale- who had known her for her entire life. It was something she had only ever shared with her father and, on occasion, in the privacy of this empty room.

"Katniss?"

At the sound of her name, her head jerked up, immediately drawing her out of her reverie. She knew that voice from anywhere.

"Peeta. What are you doing here?"

* * *

When I was a kid, my dad had this way of reprimanding Prim and me without ever having to say a word. Although, it didn't take much of anything for him to be proud of us, we admired the man so that we always tried to keep our noses clean. But if by some off chance either of us slipped up, he would fix you with this stare- with this paralyzing look that stopped you in your tracks. That look alone was enough for us to feel two inches tall.

It had been a while since I'd seen it. Been a while since anyone cared enough to be disappointed in me, until I'd met Peeta.

"Peeta. What are you doing here?"

I shook the stray hair out of my face as I stood in front of him. The two of us, I was slowly realizing, were even more alike than we were different. The way his hands were shoved as deep in his pockets as they could possibly go mirrored mine inside of my hoodie. The way he was digging the toe of his Chuck Taylor into the ground rivaled my own cross trainer worrying a fracture in the already worn wooden floor.

The way we stared at one another, neither quite sure what to say.

"I needed to talk to you." My trance was broken.

I scoffed and took a step back. He needed to talk to me now, when he couldn't muster up anything to say at the party? "Oh, do you need to talk? That's funny. Thought for once you didn't have anything left to say to me." It was insulting, this holier than thou thing he was doing. "Why, whatever do you have to say?"

Peeta shifted from foot to foot. Whatever confidence, whatever anger he still held for me that had brought him into the club was wearing thin.

"You were singing." He peeked up at me through his hair. He definitely needed to get it cut before Europe… Not that I cared or anything.

I sat back down on the piano bench, breaking eye contact only long enough to settle into the seat. I felt more comfortable this way, more in control behind the keys. "Yeah, I do that sometimes."

He took a step in my direction, stopping when I shot him a glare. "I mean like, you were really singing. I've never heard you sing before. It was beautiful."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Peeta. Things I would never deign to tell you after the way you react when you don't hear what you want to hear." I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to scream about how small he made me feel in that yard when I told him about Cato. But I didn't, because admitting those things would make me weak.

And weakness was an emotion that I couldn't stomach.

"Katniss, please, if you could just listen to me I would explain everything."

"You can't talk your way out of this, Peeta! You can't just spin some pretty little explanation with your silver tongue like you usually do. You screwed up. Hell, I know I did. But at least I was big enough to admit it." I spit my words out with as much venom as I could muster. I was done with trying to mitigate this helplessness. "You're leaving in less than a week and I'll still be here, okay? So how about we just make this easier on both of us and cut our losses. That's what you wanted to do last night anyway, right? Get out because things had suddenly gotten too messy."

I stood back up in frustration, pushing my bangs back in frustration.

"That's just it, Katniss! That's the problem here! You always want to act like everyone is running away, like I'm always one step away from leaving you." He paced, shaking his blonde hair furiously. "I just needed a second last night. Needed to process some stuff, okay?"

"Like what?" I shot back and added with a whisper, "The fact that I fucked someone who wasn't you?" He visibly recoiled, running the hand that he'd extended towards me through his hair.

"Jesus, Katniss. You know me better than that." He cringed. "I'm just trying to have an adult conversation with you. I just wanted to apologize."

There weren't many times in my adult life that I had experienced guilt; maybe last year during my fight with Gale, a little last night after punching Madge for nearly spilling my business to our entire circle of friends. But at that moment, looking into Peeta's eyes, I knew that I had crossed a line. I was using my anger and hurt, as an excuse to be plain nasty to the guy that I loved and that just wasn't okay.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

Although, we were a few feet apart, even over the smell of the club's stale alcohol, Peeta's ever-present scent of mix of paint and coffee beans invaded my senses. I was over this entire ordeal already. I just wanted to bury my face in his chest and pretend like none of this had happened. No matter what I said to Peeta now, there was no changing what had been done- on both of our ends. We had both screwed up.

He rubbed the skin on the bridge of his nose. Even through his normally reserved demeanor, I could tell that this was wearing on him as well. "I love you, Katniss. That's not changing." He sighed, reaching out to pull me towards him. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"

And while the embrace was exactly what I'd wished for moments before, something about it felt off.

It felt like there were only so many times we could play this game and come out victors.

**Peeta POV**

Style of the Day: Black skinny jeans, REO Speedwagon t-shirt, red chucks, black beanie

Song of the Moment: Honey Won't You Let Me In by The Tallest Man on Earth

There are some moments in your life that you just wish hadn't happened.

In the simplest terms, there are times that you'd rather erase, words you wish you could un-say, reactions you would give anything to undo. The night of Cato's party was undoubtedly one of those nights. The next day, arguing with Katniss in the middle of the bar, that was pretty high on the list too.

"Peet, man, you guys are highly dysfunctional," Finnick commented hours later. He and Thresh were sitting on our old leather couch while Marvel and I lounged in the mismatched recliners on opposite ends of the room. There were only a few days left until the four of us went our separate ways for the summer. And given everything that had gone down lately, Finn thought it was high time for some roommate bonding.

"Yeah bro, I was hanging out with Madge earlier and she told me about last night." Marvel shook his head with amusement. "And I don't know what you guys did to her, but my girl was looking pretty rough."

Finnick guffawed, "Katniss punched her in the stomach! And then her and Jo went to get twisted somewhere else." I threw my empty Arizona Tea can at him, effectively stopping his hysterical laughter. He wouldn't find it so funny if his girlfriend suddenly turned into Muhammad Ali overnight.

"How about you shut your mouth, huh?" Katniss and I had made up for the time being, even though our little blowout hadn't resolved most of our issues. In all honesty, it had felt good to do a little yelling, getting some of that stuff out in the open. "And just for the record, Marvel, I'm pretty sure you can't call someone 'your girl' if you just hook up with them every once in a while or call them to _cuddle_ when it gets cold."

Everyone in the room burst out laughing except for Marvel who was shouting his defense. "I told you that in confidence, dude!"

Although I hadn't managed to forget the fact that I was leaving the country in a few days with a relationship that wasn't exactly on stable ground, it felt good to joke around with the guys. We had all known each other since freshman year, from one organization or another, and moving in together this past term had just made sense. Luckily we all got along well, because I had needed the chaos of the apartment to offset the craziness of this last semester… if that made any sense.

"Honestly, I think Marcus here has it all figured out. The single life suits him just fine," Finn commented through his laughter. "Have you ever seen how many girls this guy can pull in one night? He's like the Denzel Washington of Templesmith U!"

I looked over at Thresh, who did the deep chuckle he only did when things were really, _really _funny. He was pretty unflappable. "No sir, Denzel has more swag than me. I'd like to consider myself more of a Dwayne Wade meets Barack Obama-type."

Friend-to-friend, Marcus Thresh was just plain cool. Not only was the guy the absolute definition of Tall, Dark and Handsome, but also nothing really moved him. He seemed to be perfectly confident and content in every situation he found himself in. That's probably why he's the best wrestler on State's team. It was probably why he was so good at getting women.

Even I may have had a man crush on the guy.

"Classic!" I pushed myself out of my seat and turned towards the kitchen. "Hey, anybody want some cupcakes? They should be cooled down by now."

Today, before going to The Make to find Kat, had been my last day working at the coffee shop (before taking my leave of absence for the summer). It was the part-time job that I'd been working to help with my tuition since freshman year. So after the morning I'd had, in part celebration and other part therapy, I decided to bake some cupcakes.

What can I say? Baking is both calming and rewarding.

"Hey man, I'll give you a hand. You guys want another beer?" Thresh jumped up and headed towards the kitchen. The guys both shouted some jabs about living with Betty Crocker but ultimately said yes to the drinks (and to the desserts).

I scooped out a spoonful of homemade frosting to start topping off some of the cupcakes. They were a recipe that my dad taught me before I left for college, a delicious mixture of cocoa and Bailey's Irish Cream. It was his little coming-of-age gift to me. "Here ya go," I pushed some of the finished products towards him, "They like to knock my gifts but bet that won't stop them from enjoying them."

Thresh laughed a little, grabbed the beers from the fridge and shut the door. "Yeah man, even when we were training you know the entire varsity squad was waiting for your Dirty Girl Scout cupcakes." He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. Literally, the dude looked like he could crush watermelons in his biceps.

"How much do you even lift, man? Your arms are ridiculous!" I commented with a laugh. I set down my knife and scratched the back of my neck.

"It depends on whether you're talking about bench or curl." He replied. He flexed his arms with a half-hearted scowl. "Seriously bro, how are you doing? I know the guys like to give you a hard time."

"Yeah um, you know, I'm cool. Things have definitely been better, that's for sure." I turned back to the cupcakes and tried to push my hair out of my eyes with my wrists. I was distraught but never unhygienic in the kitchen. "I wish I could be like you, man, always so cool and collected. I've always been to much of a romantic for my own good."

He moved closer so that he was back in my line of vision. Or, his chest was in my line of vision. Thresh is a pretty tall guy. "Peet, man, you don't want to be like me."

I scoffed. "What? Dude, not for nothing, but you're a certified hottie."

"Maybe we shouldn't call each other hotties while we're baking cupcakes, huh?" He punched me in the shoulder with a laugh. "I'm obviously a tall mug of hot chocolate, don't get me wrong, but you got a good thing going with Katniss, man. Seriously, I know you guys put each other through hell, what couple doesn't? But wouldn't you rather have that and work through it than have nothing?"

Thresh was a wise man. Of course I wanted this to work. I spent my entire college career trying to get this girl, this beautiful, amazing girl, and now we were on the rocks. We were struggling because both of us, to whatever degree, had trouble dealing with hardship. When things got rough, I liked to sweep problems under the rug and walk away from them. Probably due to the way she was raised, Katniss aimed to eliminate the source of the problem, which in this case, meant me.

"You're right. But how do you even know? You do happen to be the most eligible bachelor friend I have. Unless you count Marvel, which I definitely do not. I mean have you seen him and Madge together? They are actually really cute but I'm pretty sure he has commitment iss-"

Thresh punched me again, only a little harder than last time.

I thought my arm might fall off. "Shut up, Peet." I rubbed the spot where he'd hit me. "You talk so damn much sometimes."

"Sorry, dang."

"My bad, man, sometimes I forget my own strength." He patted me on the head in what I'm sure he thought was a comforting fashion. "I know because I've been there, buddy. I had a girl, back home in New York, and things just didn't work out." Marvel shouted something about his delicious baked goods from the living room, and Thresh reached back around to the counter to grab the beers that he had set down.

"Trust me on this, Peet. You don't want to end up alone, brother."

Thresh wasn't just a beautiful guy. He was an intuitive genius, too.

"I'm on my way, you lilly-livers!"

Okay, maybe not.

**I love a good bromance, don't you? I felt like we needed a nice moment from Thresh, since he's usually the strong, silent type. Hopefully, though, this advice will lead to some brighter days for K&P. Anyways, I also love reviews, so please leave one if you're reading! **


	3. The Mortal Boy King

**Hey everyone! Here goes another chapter of Sound of Summer. Just a quick heads up, I'm working on trying out some different writing styles, so from this chapter onward, half of each section will be in third person. Enjoy!**

**Katniss POV**

Style of the Day: Black Nike running shorts, maroon tank top, cross trainers

Song of the Moment: Turn on Me by The Shins

_You can fake it for a while; bite your tongue and smile._

Katniss was praying to whatever God there was that either Maysilee would suddenly run out of things to talk about or that she'd continue to ignore the earbud that continued to supply her with audio-sanity during this conversation.

Late Wednesday afternoon, post-run, 97 degrees with outlandish relative humidity- Katniss couldn't help but mentally check out.

The two women were seated in The Bean Shop, Templesmith's resident indie coffee shop, located in the school's student union. Seeing as the school year had officially wrapped, the campus center had more or less cleared out, leaving Maysie to do what she did best- plan with uncanny enthusiasm and accuracy. Katniss however couldn't help but feel like she was missing the womanly tact required for such a tedious task.

_But the stars are leaking out; like spittle from a cloud, amassed resentment counting ounce and pound. _

Not that she didn't appreciate the effort, of course. Maysilee Donner was in the middle of planning her own wedding to Katniss' best friend, Gale, which was right around the corner. Yet she was _still _taking the time to throw Peeta a goodbye party. It wasn't in Katniss' nature to be completely oblivious. No, the girl could recognize when someone she cared about had a good thing going. So she was willing to sit through this dreadfully boring meeting about finger foods and music choices if it meant keeping this positive for everyone.

She hadn't been doing an awesome job of that lately, after all.

"Katniss? Katniss honey, did you hear me?" Maysie waved her manicured hand in front of Katniss' face, gently attempting to draw her back into the conversation. "I asked if you would be willing to be a bridesmaid, you know, in the wedding?"

_Though I knew you masked your disdain. I can see that change was just too hard for us._

Katniss quickly paused the music on her iPod, which had apparently drawn her into even more of a lull than she had thought. "What? Me? In a bridesmaid dress? No offense, Maysilee, but I think your wedding portraits would probably look better if I wasn't scratching myself uncomfortably in the background of every shot."

She didn't bother mentioning that while she supported whatever was going to make Gale happy, she wasn't a big fan of the production of weddings. It was a system that she not only wasn't interested in partaking in herself, but she also didn't understand Gale's interest either. The two of them had seen how miserable the whole institution could make people, growing up in a working class town like Panem. Most couples stayed together out of pure necessity, beyond the expiration date of their love. On the other side of the coin though, she couldn't suppress the images of their sets of parents, happy and in love, before their fathers' deaths.

But he had fallen in love. And the change was still a little hairy for her.

Maysilee reached across her HGTV magazine (she was using it for planning concepts) and wrapped her hand around Katniss' earnestly. "Oh no, dear you're perfect! And I don't know why I hadn't thought to ask you earlier, being Gale's closest friend and all. I would love it if you gave it a thought." She leaned back into her seat and smiled. "Annie can help you with anything, you know. I understand if that would make you more comfortable with the idea."

Maysilee and Annie screamed related in everything they did. Both of them were so good-natured that it was almost unbearable, both constantly putting others before themselves. Katniss couldn't help but shift a bit in her seat. "Maysilee listen, it's not you. It's never been you, you know, my reasons for being so dodgy about this whole thing." Katniss reached behind her, twisting her braid into a loose bun nervously. "In all honesty, it's just weird watching my partner in crime getting married off, is all. Gale never seemed like the marrying type.

So I just want you to know that my apprehension isn't about you. It's pretty selfish on my part, actually."

Maysilee, being as earnest as ever, didn't bother fighting back the smile that was playing at her lips. Katniss hadn't even thought to explain any of her feelings to Maysie or Gale or anyone for that matter. It was just another set of emotions that she'd allowed to get pent up over time. It was no surprise that she had been such a ticking time bomb lately with the amount of secrets she'd been keeping.

"Oh Katniss, you have no idea how happy that makes me!" She stood up and rushed around to Katniss. There wasn't much time to react before the small woman threw her arms around a still seated Katniss, squeezing her tight. "So listen, I'm going to have Annie take you to get fitted for your dress still, okay? My work schedule at the factory is pretty tight this week, so it'll just be easier."

Maysilee worked as an actuary in the finance department at Snow Textiles, Panem's biggest employer and coincidentally the same place that she'd met Gale. She had explained briefly that the second quarter of a fiscal year was the toughest for their department and Katniss had been more than glad to just nod her head and pretend as though she understood.

"How is next Monday for you? We'll have Peeta's going away party on Friday night, he'll catch his flight on Saturday and you can recover on Sunday!" Maysilee began gathering her things and slipping them into her Steve Madden satchel. "Buh bye, honey, I'm so glad that you're in!"

She was out the door before Katniss had a chance to tell her that she wouldn't be available on Monday.

Katniss would be out of Panem by then.

* * *

Maysilee had left me sitting in The Bean Shop, sipping a slightly overpriced frosty beverage and wondering why I hadn't jumped in when I had the chance. Not like I was going to turn down the invitation to join the wedding party or anything -that was more or less a part of the best friend's job description- but I definitely needed to move the date up.

The girls had run off to get into some trouble this afternoon, Jo doing some damage at her weekly kickboxing class and Madge going off to one of her secret trysts with Marvel, leaving me in the apartment by myself. And since Gale was at work and Peeta was in the city tying up some loose ends before his trip, when I received my phone call, I had no one to share the news with. So I'd decided to take a run to kill some time (and burn some much needed energy) before meeting Mays to discuss Peet's going away party.

"Alright Brainless, I got your text after I finished kicking ass. What couldn't wait for you to get back to the apartment to tell me?" Johanna rushed through the door of the coffee shop, pulling off her leather MMA gloves. I'd texted her to meet me here after her class, which she of course couldn't do without a ton of sass.

She turned the chair that Maysilee had recently vacated around and straddled it, crossing her tattooed arms over the back. "Well hello to you too, my dear friend." I rolled my eyes and pushed her sweaty gloves from the tabletop to the ground.

"Eh, you know I'm not one for the formalities. Where's Sparkles, hooking up with Marv?" Jo grabbed my drink and downed the rest of its contents. "Actually, don't answer that. I like for their romance to remain a mystery. This friendship thing is much more fun that way."

"What do you mean? I don't leave enough to the imagination for your taste?" I feigned hurt and threw a hand over my heart.

She scoffed. "Yeah, you and Blondie are so secretive, recent melodramas not-withstanding." Johanna reached into her gym bag and removed a water bottle, unscrewing the top and drinking what was left. While you can't overlook Jo's obviously crass attitude, sometimes it's easy to ignore how physically impressive the girl is. I mean, she's the only one of us that could boast both a regular workout regimen _and_ a six-pack, despite the inordinate amounts of alcohol she consumes on a weekly basis. "Now seriously, Everdeen, what the hell is going on? You never rush to tell me anything."

Suddenly, I didn't know where to begin. I had been itching to tell someone all day and yet I had no idea how to describe it. "Well, I think the best way to start would be to say that a couple of weeks ago, back before finals, I started thinking about what this summer was going to be like and got really, _really _bummed out about it."

Jo grabbed a LUNA bar out of her bag a popped a piece of it into her mouth. "You're telling me. I'm gonna be in the lab for three months straight, examining the effects of fungal diseases on Oak trees." I didn't bother to remind her that when she signed up to study Environmental Science, she kind of committed to a life of that sort of weird stuff.

"Well with you doing that, Gale planning his wedding, Peeta going to Europe, Prim heading to Georgetown early for the honors summer semester, Madge working to get people to the polls in the fall –no pun intended-," Jo snorted, "I was just gonna be stuck here, pissed off at gravity. So I applied for an internship… In Chicago."

Johanna dropped her LUNA bar on the table and stared at me.

"Hell. No."

"Hell yes, Mason. This small town girl is spending the next three months of her life interning at Coin Music, only the biggest recording company in the United States." Jo slapped one hand on the table and fist pumped with the other. Luckily the café was virtually empty, because the two of us were celebrating more than should be allowed in a public setting.

"Damn, girl! You are one sneaky little bitch. I never saw this one coming. I figured Pretty Boy had went and knocked you up or something!" I let out the first genuine laugh I had felt in a while. "This is sick, Everdeen, seriously." She placed both hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. "I may actually be feeling, I don't know, pride?"

I reached across the table and punched her in her shoulder. If we weren't in such good moods, I would have feared a violent retaliation on her part. Now though, as we sat there laughing in celebration, I couldn't help but feel legitimately enthusiastic about the months to come.

The application process had started later than most internships, so for that I was extremely grateful. Having grown up around music, I knew that one day I wanted to be doing work in the studio, but having never left Panem for any length of time, I knew that this whole program would be a long shot. Somehow, by sending in audio samples from production work I'd done for Gale's band 9 months ago, I had qualified myself for a Skype interview. And after sending in a little bit of paperwork, I'd received a phone call confirmation. Somehow, within the course of a few weeks and some spontaneous moves, I had landed my dream gig.

"So have you told Mellark yet?" Jo asked, bringing me back down to reality.

"No, he's been in the city all day handling stuff before his trip. I figured that I would just tell him tonight when he got back. You know, working on the whole face-to-face, full disclosure thing?"

She wrinkled her nose at the idea. "Ew, don't go being all functional on me now. I'm living vicariously through you since you know I'm not into the whole 'relationship' nonsense," I smirked. "Seriously though, what do you think he's going to say? I mean, I know he'll be excited, that's just who he is, but things will be different now. You're not just going to be the little missus back home anymore. You're big bad independent in the big city."

She flailed her arms in dramatic fashion. I didn't understand her concern, so I simply shrugged my shoulders, stood up, and started towards the door. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"

"I don't think you get it yet." She replied, a mischievous smile playing at her lips as she threw her gym bag over her shoulder.

"Chicago is nothing like Panem, Everdeen. You better get ready for an adventure."

**Peeta POV**

Style of the Day: Riot Society Cali Bear t-shirt, red skinny jeans, black chucks

Song of the Moment: The Mortal Boy King by The Paper Kites

_What does the son of a computer call his father?_

Peeta felt his cell buzz in his back pocket, before pulling it out to check it. He couldn't help but laugh as he read Katniss' wildly corny soon-to-be pun. The customer in the drug store's travel toiletries aisle along with him scowled. Ignoring him, Peeta typed back a reply.

_I don't know, data?_

Her response was even quicker than his.

_I hate when you ruin my comedy, you booger. :P_

This was fun, joking around with her like this. These were the times in the relationship that Peeta had no doubt that the kind of bond that they shared, no matter how silly or corny or cliché it was, was the type that could stand the test of time. Coming off of a tumultuous couple of days, it felt nice to be able to joke around again.

_You love it ;)_

"Maybe you could shoot googly eyes at your little phone machine somewhere else, kid. Some people are actually here to shop, you know." Peeta's head jerked up at the sound of the familiar voice, jarring him out of his reverie.

"Gale," He shook hands with the taller man, bringing him in for a quick hug. Peeta knew that both he and Katniss weren't huge fans of physical displays of affection, but it was in his nature to be overtly friendly- especially to his girlfriend's lifelong pal. "What are you doing in the city? I heard you were putting in some extra shifts at the factory."

The old man who had shot Peeta a glare earlier shook his head in frustration at the now _two _obstructions to his shopping experience. "Yeah man, I was, but Mays needed me to pick up her prescription and you know her- city girl doesn't trust Panem's small town apothecary."

Gale laughed lightly and shook his head in what could be mistaken as dismay. Peeta recognized that look anywhere; only the feeling of being reminded that you were with a girl _way _out of your league could do that to a guy. Yeah, they both wore it well.

"Understandable," Peeta grabbed the travel-sized toothpaste from the shelf and held it up. "This is the all important business that brings me here today. Well, and I had to get some kind of biometric screening before I left the states." He shrugged and the two men headed towards the counter to check out.

The cashier rang up Gale's items and he turned back to Peeta. "Did you hear about Katniss' 'big news'?" He put air quotes around the words.

Peeta shook his head in confusion. What big news could he possibly be talking about? He had just been texting Katniss a few minutes ago and she hadn't mentioned anything. Actually, he had been talking to her _all day_ and she hadn't mentioned anything.

"Um no," he scratched the back of his neck, his nervous tick. "I actually didn't know about that. I uh, have been here, um, in the city all day. You know how that is."

It was taking everything out of him to fight his jealous instincts. Yeah, in the months since he and Katniss had been together things between him and Gale had improved drastically. When they met, obviously the unresolved sexual tension between Gale and the woman that Peeta loved had cause a bit of a rift between them, but over time, they had actually become pretty good friends. It also helped that Gale fell head over heels for Maysilee and all residual feelings for Katniss were rendered strictly platonic.

Regardless, Peeta still occasionally struggled with how close the two still were- lifelong friends or not.

"Yeah," Gale slipped the receipt from his purchase into his back pocket. "I just heard her voicemail on my way out of the factory today. Well, knowing her, Prim just bought a cat or something. Catnip is just sentimental like that."

Peeta fought his instinct to cringe at the nickname. Another one of those things you couldn't wish away with a new relationship, he supposed.

"I guess so." Gale clapped Peeta on the back and headed out towards his car. As the cashier rung up his items, Peeta's phone buzzed in his pocket again.

_No. I love _you_. _

And another.

_Where are you anyways? I have been waiting to tell you something exciting all day!_

Peeta fought off a smile as he typed a text and slid his phone back into his pocket. As much as he hated to admit it, he still needed to be reminded.

_On my way, m'lady._

Katniss would always be his girl.

* * *

If landing The Heavensbee Fellowship had been the second greatest moment of my life, hearing Katniss say that she loved me for the first time was certainly the first. And ever since, even reading the words via text message gave me a certain satisfaction, for sure.

Walking through my bedroom door to find a half naked Katniss sitting on my bed does too. "Welcome home, darling."

"Why hello, dear." I stepped inside and shut the door behind me, probably grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. Seated on my, Peeta Mellark, my bed, was my beautiful girlfriend in what appeared to be nothing but my old Varsity Wrestling hoodie from back when I was on the team. And if I didn't know any better, I'd say she had just gotten out of the shower. "To whatever do I owe this honor?"

She stood up and the hoodie draped down to her mid-thigh. The sleeves were long enough to cover her hands, only allowing her slight fingertips to peek through. It was taking a lot of self-control to keep from just rushing her. I mean, what did she expect? A guy could only maintain sanity under this… pressing condition for so long.

"Finnick let me in before he left. We both thought you would be back a little sooner, though. And I went on a run earlier, so I decided to take a shower," she took a step towards me and I could smell my own conditioner radiating off of her. "I hope you don't mind."

I reached out tentatively and placed my hands on her waist. I didn't know where this sudden burst of confidence was coming from but I certainly wasn't going to fight it.

"No ma'am. I am quite pleased to see that you've made it over." She was dangerously close in proximity. I swallowed thickly and urged myself to continue. "I uh, you uh, you said that you had something to tell me in your text earlier."

Katniss brought her lips up to my ear and whispered. "Yeah. I have _big news_. But it can wait."

She tangled her fingers into the hair at the base of my neck, pulling my mouth to hers. I pulled her body as close as possible, molding all of our dips and curves together so that we fit like some eerily perfect puzzle. I was losing myself in her like I so often did. Even in moments where we weren't being physically intimate like this, there were times when I could feel my center of gravity shift.

And then she broke away. "Did you know that our anniversary is on Friday?" She asked quietly and directed her eyes to the ground.

It took me a second to regroup. She was getting really good at this "throwing curveballs" thing. I dropped my hands from her hips and placed them on both sides of her face, turning it to meet mine. "What are you talking about?"

Katniss smiled weakly and walked back towards the bed- away from me. "Our seven month anniversary is on Friday… The day before you leave for Europe. Believe it or not, I was keeping track." She looked at the canvas print I had on the wall above my bed with a dreamy expression.

As quickly as the half naked sexpot Katniss had appeared, she had gone away just as fast. "Kat, what news did you have to tell me?"

Masterfully evading my question, she turned back in my direction, twisting her wet strands of hair into a braid. "There are a lot of things I'm not good at talking about." She turned to face me and I took that as an opportunity to come closer to her. "That's why I couldn't tell you about Cato earlier. And, I know that you said we didn't need to talk about this, that everything was fine- but I need to say it anyway."

I opened my mouth to stop her, but she pressed on. "No seriously, I want you to know that there is nothing I regret more than sleeping with him. I wish I were more courageous, less anxious and stronger, because then, even though I didn't know you, I would have had the right mind to wait to fall in love. I wanted to give that to you, Peeta, and I'm so ashamed that now I can't."

I reached forward and pulled her into me. Katniss rested her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around me tightly. For the moment, just that admission seemed to be enough for her. Although, for me, the not knowing is just as complicated as the knowing.

"I want to be with you. This," she motioned between the two of us, "passion or whatever cliché term people place on this _feeling, _is real to me. And every time I get close to you, I can't help but think about all of that."

The fact of the matter was, at the root of this whole experience, Katniss and I had very similar "first time" scenarios. Although I had been dating Clove for months before we had sex, all along I knew that the two of us weren't quite right for one another- that we were together for the wrong reasons. I, much like the way that Kat did, convinced myself that these relationships or hookups were something that was integral to the college experience. Unlike Katniss, though, none of that mattered to me anymore.

I kissed the top of her head. "We're here right now, though, Katniss- me and you. None of those things matter because we have each other and that's not going to change."

She sniffled, wiping away a solitary tear that I hadn't even realized she'd shed. "But we're leaving. A lot can happen in three months away. And Johanna seems to think that-"

I held her at arms length, an incredulous look on my face. "Seriously? You're going to let Jo make this weird? You know she's always saying crazy thin-" I stopped midsentence to process what she had said. "Wait, what do you mean _we're _leaving? Are you coming to Europe in my carry-on?"

Realizing that she had already begun to spill whatever she was keeping from me, I noticed a glint in her eye that I hadn't seen in a while, something that looked like hope (probably not due to the prospect of being included in my carry-on, obviously).

"That's what my news was." She grinned. "I'm going to be spending my summer in Chicago, interning at Coin Music, doing some production stuff in studio. Isn't that exciting?!"

I feigned the most enthusiastic smile I could. I _was _extremely happy –not to mention proud- of her for landing this gig. My apprehension had nothing to do with that.

"Chicago, huh?" I asked while releasing her from my congratulatory hug.

I gritted my teeth and managed to mumble a well wish.

"Say hello to my mother for me."


	4. Wasted Feelings

**Peeta **

Outfit of the Day: White v neck t-shirt, Camo cargo shorts, all black chucks

Song of the Moment: Wasted Feelings by Foxy Shazam

Peeta read a lot growing up.

It was weird, people thought, that he had been such a walking contradiction. He was this guy who could dominate a man twice his size on a wrestling mat, but would just as well rather pick up a Steven King novel and hole up in his brothers' long abandoned tree house to read it for the night. He was the kid who could sit with the band nerds (he admired them, for as much as he loved music, playing instruments was a talent he could just never figure out) at lunch just as easily as he could start a food fight with the other varsity guys.

It was weird even to his mother, who wished that he could just be the Golden Boy like his brothers before him. She wanted another son who would rather get a football scholarship than paint. She wanted another boy who would rather spend his evenings in the gym than penning sappy love poems to a girl he had yet to love.

Yeah, it was weird to her and she never let him forget it. Not after he landed his scholarship to State, not after he got injured and his bum leg caused him to leave the sport for good, and certainly not when he received the Fellowship.

"Hey." Katniss came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What are you thinking about?"

Peeta shut the cover of the book he'd been flipping through, debating whether or not to take it with him. He was leaving for Europe in the morning and Katniss was helping him finish his packing.

"Nothing," he covered her small hands with his own, linking their fingers together, "I just thought maybe my mom would call or something before I left. I haven't spoken to her since Christmas."

The last time he went back home to his family had been a complete disaster. His father had been the mastermind behind insisting that he spend the holidays with the family, always anxious to bring everyone together. His older brothers still lived nearby, Rye working to take over the bakery and Jax working to keep his wife from turning into their mother. Needless to say, both were very busy, so they were rarely in the same place at the same time.

It didn't help that Peeta found every excuse not to return home, finding any and every reason to stay in Panem for breaks and holidays. First it was wrestling kept him too busy, then his ex-girlfriend wanted him to come home with her, and eventually he stopped making excuses all together. His family stopped expecting him to.

Peeta had never been suited for the cookie-cutter existence of his hometown in Pennsylvania. It wasn't that he didn't want a family some day (a fact that still troubled Katniss endlessly); he just didn't want to buy into that lifestyle. Everything seemed so trivial about the pretense and the image. No, he would rather make beautiful things and love a beautiful woman, so he'd become the Mellark's resident black sheep.

Katniss pressed gentle kisses along his back and even through his shirt he could feel the heat of her lips. "I know, baby." She mumbled, terms of endearment still not something she was completely comfortable with but necessary for a wordsmith like Peeta to feel comforted. "At least you've spoken to your dad though, right? He loves you."

_He_ loves you.

Not _they _love you. It had always been just his father that could respect his son's gentle demeanor, encouraged him to follow his heart. Peeta knew that his mother's love was limited but the reminders hurt all the same every time.

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. It wasn't worth getting worked about now.

It was true, anyways; Peeta's father had more compassion for his youngest son than his mother had in her pinkie. He had called this morning and insisted on wiring him some money for miscellaneous expenditures during his stay. Peeta had refused, like he always did when his dad offered him a hand. If he was going to do this, if he was going to make it as an artist -_prove_ to everyone that he could make it as an artist- that's what it was going to take.

That is why he had busted his butt for a scholarship. That's why he had worked so hard at his low-paying coffee shop job. And that was a minute aspect of him accepting the second position co-hosting the radio show last year.

Katniss shifted around so that she could look him in the eye. A gentle smile graced her features as she looked up at him. "_I _love you." She stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his, adding a quick reassurance. "We have each other, that's what matters. And the gang loves you, obviously."

She rolled her eyes with a good-natured scoff at their friends. The girls had insisted on throwing Peeta a going-away party nearly two weeks ago, and since finding out about Katniss' internship in Chicago this summer, they had turned it into a combined affair. Peeta thought that it was a really sweet gesture on their part, and underneath all of the bustle, he could tell that Katniss did too.

"Wait a second. You mean to tell me that you're not over the moon about a party being thrown in our honor?" Peeta threw his hand over his heart and fell back onto his bed. "Katniss Everdeen shirking off attention? I don't even know who you are anymore!" He laughed as she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him. "I'm dating a stranger, everyone! Where has my girlfriend gone?"

Katniss growled in faux annoyance and jumped on top of him, pinning his hands above his head on the mattress. "So you got jokes, funny guy?" Peeta nodded his head with a smirk. "How funny are you now?"

She threw a leg over his waist, straddling his midsection. Abruptly, the air in the room began to shift, the ironic banter of the moment forgotten. Katniss was too close to where he'd been longing for her to be for too long, and they were both headed away for three months and suddenly everything felt very real.

He wanted her. No matter how many times he'd vowed that he would wait forever –and he absolutely would, with no complaints- it didn't change the fact that he wanted her. He wanted to make her his; in mind, body, soul and he could feel their chances slipping away.

"Katniss, I…" he whispered, looking into her eyes. The grey that was usually there had been replaced by something darker, something he could identify with: need.

"BROOOOOOOOO!" And just like that the moment was gone.

One of Peeta's roommates, Marvel came bursting through the door. Katniss rolled off of him a stealthily as possible and effectively rolled herself off of the bed and into a heap on the floor. Marvel, ever the oblivious, kept on with his intrusion as though nothing happened.

"You okay, Katniss? Looks like you hit the ground pretty hard there." He commented flippantly. Peeta grabbed a pillow and strategically placed it over his lap to cover the evidence of what exactly Marvel had interrupted.

Katniss popped her head up from the side of the bed where she'd landed. "Just peachy, Marv. Just plain peachy."

Before Marvel had time to pick up on the annoyance in his girlfriend's tone, Peeta piped up again. "What is it, dude?"

Marvel bounced up and down on his feet. He usually blamed his excess energy on his ADHD, which probably explained why he was such an outstanding swimmer. He just had an inordinate amount of energy at all times.

"Oh yeah! Um Madgey just called and said that Gale's band is already doing sound checks at the apartment. She wants you and Katniss there immediately to check volume levels for your goodbye speeches."

Katniss groaned and smothered her face with the comforter. "Your girlfriend expects us to do _speeches_?"

Marvel, always in motion, did some toe touches and interjected. "She's not my girl

"Fine, she's not your girlfriend. My girlfriend's roommate and the 'girl you go and dates with/hookup with on the regular' wants us to do speeches? This is really nice of everyone, organizing this event for us, but something tells me that's not going over well with the Missus." Peeta flicked his thumb in Katniss' direction with a laugh.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Don't shoot the messenger, bro! The beautiful and dangerous, Ms. Undersee advised me to let you two know. And I'm heading out to help her buy some decorations or something- not really sure but it sounded urgent. But then again everything with Madge sounds urgent."

Marvel offered a quick salute and disappeared as quickly as he had shown up, leaving the apartment empty once again. His roommates were all off finding themselves starting their respective summers. Thresh was at the gym doing off-season conditioning for wrestling and Finnick was no doubt spending some time with Annie.

Neither Peeta nor Katniss knew how to address the energy that had been in the room just moments before, though. They had both felt something change, between each other and within themselves. And in just a number of hours, Peeta would be on an entirely different continent, the two of them separated by an ocean for three months. The thought of leaving her, of her going to his hometown of Chicago, with their relationship on only temporarily stable ground made him sick.

"Marvel is such a spaz. I see why he and Madge can't just go ahead and get together already; they're both too high-strung. Any more energy in that relationship and they could power a city." Katniss sighed and climbed up onto the bed. She laid her head on the pillow in Peeta's lap as he found purpose unraveling her abnormally short braid and running his fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, Marv is like a brother to me but he has got to get a grip on social cues. He always walks in at the worst possible times." He pushed her bangs back from her forehead and pressed a quick peck to it.

In preparation for both of their trips, they had spent the morning at the salon. Peeta had finally gotten his unruly curls trimmed and Katniss, to his surprise, had gotten a cut. For the first time since he'd known her, her long dark brown –nearly black- hair no longer cascaded down her back. It stopped just below her shoulders and her bangs stopped just above her eyebrows.

Blunt bangs the stylist that had worked on her called them. Peeta had finished his cut in minutes and discovered his girlfriend in the middle of a rather surprising change.

"_What's the deal with the scissors, babe?" He started, taking a seat in the empty chair next to Katniss and glancing at where the stylist had her wet hair draped onto her face. "I thought you were just taking care of your ends."_

_Peeta could hear something strange creeping into his voice and he was sure that Katniss could sense it too. It wasn't that he didn't like change or that he didn't think that Katniss would look brilliant regardless of what she got done, but in the last few days he had watched a lot of things shift in their relationship._

_They had finally gotten over the intimacy hurdle, their first time together looming closer with every intimate touch they shared. Yet just as quickly as one thing had gotten out of their way, Katniss had divulged that she was headed to Chicago to work in a recording studio all summer. It was one thing leaving and her staying behind in Panem. It was another thing entirely leaving and watching her gallivant around the Windy City with rock stars._

_It was completely unlike Peeta to be jealous –and Katniss had never really given him a reason to be- but something about her brought that out in him. He had this strange sensation of possessiveness wash over him at the news and it hadn't completely left him yet._

_Katniss blinked at him through the curtain of brown locks._

"_I think I want a change, you know? This is a big summer for me- for both of us- going out into the world and doing what we love full time. It's exciting." She reached over and ran her thumb along the top of his hand. "Things are changing for the better, Peeta."_

_Things were changing,_ she had said earlier, and he was now sure that was laced with more innuendo than she could let on in the salon. Not just her appearance, but something between the two of them. It made him both excited and nervous at the same time.

She looked up at him with hooded eyes.

"And what exactly did he walk in on, Peeta?"

Everything hit him in that moment; everything about her look overwhelmed him. The fact that they weren't going to be together again for a very long time, the sheer trace of longing that peppered her expression, the fact that they were finally alone all weighed on him.

"Katniss..." He started as she sat up, throwing one leg over his lap and straddling him. "Katniss, I don't think I want to leave without knowing what it feels like to be with you."

Peeta was shocked by his own boldness, but if Katniss felt the same way, she didn't say anything. Instead, she reached to where Peeta's hands had found purchase on the small of her back and urged them lower so that they were gripping her thighs.

She held his face in her hands. "I don't either." Their lips met then, neither wanting to slow the desire that was building. Katniss was subtly grinding into Peeta as her lips slid open and their tongues joined together, the ebb and flow of their relationship somehow illustrated in one kiss. "I love you so much, Peeta."

Katniss broke away and looked him in the eyes. The look of intensity there was one he had seen before but never during a moment like this. It was never about her love for him or when they were caught up in a time of passion. What he saw in her features reflected what he always felt.

"We've been really stupid." Peeta smirked and brushed a thumb across her cheek.

Katniss nodded and attempted to move impossibly closer to him, rolling her hips into his. "This past month it seems like all we do is argue." She tucked her head into the place where his neck met his shoulder and sucked on the skin there.

A groan fell from his lips at the sensation. "And when we're not ah… arguing, we're being all ooh… um, we're being mopey about this summer." Katniss nipped up to his earlobe, biting down gently.

"Peeta honey, we don't have to talk about this right now." Katniss mumbled against his ear.

After everything, all of this time and all of those days imagining this, Peeta was still impossibly nervous about being together with her in this way. He knew that he wanted it probably more than anything, but between the combinations of the woman of his dreams here and ready mixed with his woeful inexperience, his mind was running a thousand miles per minute.

His body, on the other hand, knew exactly what it wanted.

"I know, I just…" Katniss' hand was drifting increasingly closer to dangerous territory. "Kat, maybe we should ah!" She palmed him over his shorts, running her dainty hand over the ever-growing tent.

She pulled back to look him in the eyes again, halting her movements but keeping her hand in place. "Peeta Mellark, I need you to stop speaking for a moment. I need you to know that I love you and that no matter what happens today or any other day this summer, that will never change." The playful gleam that had been present a moment ago softening. "Will you let me do that, please?"

His mouth went dry and all he could do was nod his head. He had dated Clove for months and never had any problem taking charge in sexual situations- not that they occurred that often. Something about being with Katniss left him at a loss, floundering for what to do or say next. Not just in the bedroom, but everywhere.

She was strong and incredibly smart and she anchored him to this world.

Pushing all of those things aside, Peeta allowed instinct to take over. Reaching forward, without asking permission, he tugged at the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head. Clad in a simple lacy green bra, her athletic frame looked even more unbelievable now than ever. And he did what they were so good at; he stopped talking and kissed her. It was open-mouthed, feverish, like there weren't enough minutes in the day to share this with one another.

In reality, there weren't. The next 12 hours were going to fly by. They would go their separate ways to get ready for their party, they'd spend their last night in town with their friends, and come morning Peeta would be headed to the airport to catch his flight. The next morning, Katniss would be doing the same thing.

He carefully picked her up off of his lap and leaned her back against his pillows. She reached up and pushed her hands under his shirt, scanning the plains of his chest. Peeta's hands crept up her ribcage, causing her to shiver beneath him. "Are you okay?"

Katniss opened her eyes. "I um, yeah. I'm fine," she attempted a convincing smile, "I was just feeling so confident a minute ago and now I feel all squirrely. " Sensing the immediate tension in Peeta, she continued, "No! I want to do this. I _want _to do this. I just, um, don't really know what I'm doing… I'm such little girl, you know the only guy I've been with and it was only one time and it wasn't anything special, so I'm at a loss here…"

Peeta smiled brightly and leaned down to kiss her. "Lets figure it out together then. We have all night, you know." She responded by reaching for his belt buckle. "I mean, you don't have to…"

"All night, right?" She smirked.

Kpkpkpkpkp

**Peeta POV**

Outfit of the Night: Rolled sleeve red Henley, Grey slim-fit chinos, Navy boat shoes

Song of the Moment: Public Service Announcement by Of Mice and Men

"Boy, you ready to go?" Haymitch turned to me and downed a sip from his flask, now that the semester was over, not bothering to hide it. "We already done shipped your tools over. They're waiting for you at the program's shithole apartments."

I had stopped by to see Haymitch on my way to pick up Katniss for the party, since the old man's office was on the way. I knew he would be here even though it was nighttime; Haymitch did his best work at night. "I'm not here to pick anything up, Abernathy. I was stopping by to say goodbye. You know? Since you won't see me for a few months? I know all that whiskey hasn't made your memory that hazy."

Haymitch gave me a half-hearted scowl. "Ah shut it, Mellark. I know why you're here." He pushed his goggled up into his dusty blonde hair. He had been in the middle of sanding a new piece when I walked through the door. It was still early enough for him to work without the threat of chopping off one of his fingers.

He tossed the sandpaper back onto the new statue and dusted off his smock. "You're such a sentimental little bastard, I knew you'd be by to say goodbye."

I couldn't help but laugh. Haymitch, although he was my mentor, had a hard time being 100% open about his emotions. Since my freshman year he had been a huge part of my pursuit in art as a career, so even through his haze of drunken stubbornness, I could see his heart. I wouldn't have even been going to Europe if it weren't for him. I was so caught up in my own world last semester to enter myself for the Fellowship. Haymitch had been the one to take my brooding romanticism and make it lucrative.

"You know you're gonna be lost without me this summer, old man." I fell back onto the couch that he kept in his studio and crossed one leg over my knee. "I'm the one who keeps you from falling asleep behind the reciprocating saw."

Haymitch scoffed and grabbed a beer from his personal fridge. Haymitch was the only professor in the School of Visual Arts that got their own studio on campus, let alone their own refrigerator. The again, despite his methods of madness, he was the most revered artist this school had even seen- or produced.

"Whatever, boy," He popped open the tab of his Pabst Blue Ribbon and squinted. He was a hard drinker, but that cheap stuff left a bad taste in even his mouth. "That's some nasty shit. You want some?" I shook my head and he downed some more. "So what has your little lady had to say about everything today? She's probably a mess."

I rolled my eyes at him. Katniss and Haymitch had a rough beginning. The first time they met being under some of the most uncomfortable pretenses possible. Ever since, she has been even more sassy than usual in his presence, and he acts even drunker.

I think they secretly admire each other.

"Actually, since you know so much, she's leaving this summer too. So it's not like she doesn't have something to look forward to when I'm gone." I tried to keep the pinch out of my voice. "She's going to Chicago for an internship with Coin Music."

Even Haymitch looked impressed by that. "Well I'll be damned, the girl has some spunk in her yet. Alma is a real bitch about her employees, so that was a pretty hard gig to swing." I looked at him in confusion. "Don't look at me like that, boy. Alma and me go way back to some less… upstanding times. I've lived a lot of life."

He downed the rest of his beer and tossed it into the recycling bin. Haymitch was nothing if not environmentally conscious. "Ignoring that, she'll be there working and I'll be in Europe studying, so as of right now everything is good. Great even." At that I had to smile.

I still hadn't been able to get the image of Katniss, topless and determined to get me off out of my mind. Just hours before, she had barely even needed to touch me to get me to come, the sight of her being motivation enough. The way her small hand felt wrapped around me, the way she licked her lips in concentration to see what I responded to the most (basically everything)- it was almost enough to keep me from ever getting out of bed. But Katniss had insisted that we "absolutely must" attend this going-away party in our honor, so that forced the both of us out of bed.

"Holy shit. You got some. Well boy, I didn't think you two had it in ya, I'll be honest. You've been walking around this here studio pent up and frankly, really fucking annoying for the past two months. I'm glad to see you've done the deed."

I snorted. The fact of the matter was, Katniss and I had been dating for considerably longer than most couples our age would before we got physically intimate. There were a lot of hang-ups between the two of us keeping it from being as much of a factor as most would believe.

We had started something tonight, though. Something I wanted to finish before it was too late.

"Jesus, Abernathy! It's not even like that. Even if it were, though, you are one person that I'm positive I do not want to discuss my sex life with."

He grabbed another beer with a smirk and I continued. "Regardless, I'm on my way to pick her up now. I just wanted to stop by really fast and say bye. I owe you everything for this."

I stood up and walked towards the door, smiling at the rapport that came so easily between my mentor and I. He was gruff and frank while I was overly poetic and evasive. We were two sides of the spectrum, and I wouldn't be where I was without his influence.

"'Til then, Haymitch." I saluted.

He pushed his goggles back down and turned back to his project. If I didn't know him as well as I did, I could have sworn I heard a tinge of sadness line his goodbye.

"Get outta here, boy."

**Katniss POV**

Outfit of the Night: Gucci silk hooded jumpsuit, Rag and Bone leather ankle boots

Song of the Moment: I Would Do Anything for You by Foster the People

The first thought that I could manage was that this whole thing was ridiculous.

Looking down at the outfit that the girls had somehow wrangled me into made me doubt my entire existence. Okay, that was dramatic, but I really didn't recognize myself. I looked around at my party-prep team; Jo was wielding a curling iron, Madge still holding onto the foundation applicator that she had just brushed across my entire face. They were determined to make me over for the party.

"Are you guys shitting me?"

"God, Madge, I knew this little whiner was going to have a problem with us making her hot." Johanna unplugged the curling iron and haphazardly dropped it on the dresser. She was already too sassy for my taste, but nothing could bring me down after what had happened with Peeta and I this afternoon: not Jo's sass or this outrageous getup.

Johanna and Madge were hands down the most extravagant friends I had. They went out just about every weekend and always insisted that I let them fix me up. Since this was our last hurrah together before we parted ways for three months, I decided to go ahead and say yes.

"Yeah Kat, honestly, you look amazing. I can't believe you don't see that." Madge pushed my chin towards the room's full-sized mirror. "That jumpsuit is Gucci, by the way. It's a very exclusive design, actually. My mother just had it sent here from home."

I frowned in her general direction. Madge always had the best intentions; she'd give you the shirt off your back if yours didn't have a high enough thread count. My friends, if nothing else, were generous.

"What the princess here means is that jumpsuit looks fucking insane on you, Everdeen, and you know I don't even hand out compliments like that." Jo rolled her eyes and flopped down on her bed.

She was being honest, as usual. Johanna didn't hand out compliments just for the sake of handing them out- she only said what she really meant. And giving myself the once over, I had to agree with her (at least in part).

I didn't really look like myself. After the haircut this morning, the complete makeup overhaul and designer threads I was donning, I looked like a completely different person. Not the Katniss that had never spent any substantial time outside of Panem, but a Katniss that was fit for the big city.

Peeta hadn't looked too psyched when I told him that I was getting what Jo called "The Zooey Deschanel". I attributed it to the fact that he had never been too good with change, and up until that morning, neither had I. Something about this summer was already screaming for something new.

"I hate it when you call me princess, Jo." Madge crossed her arms in a fake huff and hopped up to sit on the dresser.

The two of them shared a bedroom while I crashed on the couch. We split the rent three ways to make it easier on Jo and I to make ends meet, since we were both busy paying our ways through school. Madge just really liked the feeling of having sisters… or something like that. Regardless, the place was probably more cramped than should be legally allowed, but we knew each other better than most friends could claim.

I was going to miss them for the next couple months.

"Oh stop, you love it. It makes you feel right at home. Isn't that what the Good Senator calls his little girl?" They were going back and forth as usual, leaving me to fiddle with my appearance in the mirror. I couldn't wait for Peeta to see me. I wondered how he would respond to this Katniss after the way he had responded earlier in his bedroom.

"I don't know why you act like my dad being a member of congress is some sort of birth defect, Jo!" She turned to tug on my newly trimmed hair. "Katniss, please tell Johanna not to bully me while you're gone."

I laughed at the two of them and threw an arm around Madge's dainty shoulders. The girl was so tiny it was unreal. In a room with Jo's general existence and my naturally sunny disposition, you did have to sometimes make sure that she didn't get lost in the shuffle.

"Jo, leave Madge alone. She is going to be the first female president, after all." I ruffled her curly hair and smiled.

Madge scrunched up her features in modesty. You wouldn't know from her clothing choices or the way she carried herself most of the time, but the girl had the highest GPA of all of us. Growing up in a political family (she was raised in Washington, DC, thus explaining her dramatics), she was at Templesmith majoring in Political Science. Apparently we had a decent program and it possessed the added bonus of being thousands of miles away from the prying eyes of her father's political rivals back home.

"Oh right!" Johanna sat up on the bed and tossed a pillow in her direction. "Make sure you keep allowing your people to legislate my right to my own body. I love that shit."

"Ladies," We all snapped our heads in the direction of the door, "I think we should all give Madge a break. It's not her fault that her dad is a republican."

How he had gotten in, I couldn't exactly say. All I knew in that moment was that my boyfriend, the love of my life, was standing in the threshold to the bedroom looking more delectable than ever. Maybe it was the new territory we had entered this afternoon with the promise of what was to come later. Maybe it was his freshly trimmed blonde curls still slightly damp from his shower. For the second time of the evening, I was really tempted to skip the party.

"Well look what the cat dragged in!" Johanna smirked and rose from the bed. Straightening her outfit (she was rocking some really provocative red satin shorts, Christopher Kane graphic top, and some strappy 6-inch heels), she waved Madge with her and strutted towards the door, her long legs and svelte frame accentuated by her innate sensuality.

"You're looking especially sexy tonight, Mellark."

She smirked and leaned in to whisper something in his ear. I couldn't hear from my side of the room but whatever she said made Peeta blush and Madge giggle. If I didn't admire Johanna so much, I could have hated her. She was so damn confident. Maybe a couple months in the music industry could get me to her level.

"See y'all at the party!" She winked over her shoulder at the two of us and left, Madge trailing close behind.

Peeta pushed himself off of the doorframe, where he'd adopted that carelessly casual pose you only find from guys in fashion magazines. He kicked the door shut behind him and stalked towards me, the blush from a moment ago disappeared and replaced by something purely predatory.

"What did she say to you?" I questioned as he reached my spot against the dresser, gripping my hips. "Jo is always saying the craziest shi-" He interrupted me by pressing his lips to mine purposefully.

"I don't want to talk about Johanna." He pulled back and gave me the once over. "Let's talk about this outfit. Or what's underneath it…"

I squirmed out from under his grasp with a giggle (this new thing that I was trying). I liked this flirtatious Peeta, the guy who took what he wanted. We had spent the past 7 months of our relationship tip-toeing around one another; him afraid that I was going to retreat into myself if he pushed too hard, and me afraid of getting too close for fear that he'd one day walk away. Now, less than 12 hours from the time he was going to catch his flight to Europe, we were the best version of ourselves we had ever been together.

We were breaking down walls, just in time for an ocean to separate us instead.

"Peeta quit playing around! We only have a little while before they're going to expect us to be at the party." I sat back on the bed, crossing my legs delicately. I was giving the Johanna effortless confidence thing a chance. It wasn't as effortless as she made it seem.

He came and flopped down on the bed next to me. "Agh, I think we could finish whatever we wanted." He looked up at me from his position on the pillow with a lazy smile. He knew that we couldn't go back to what we were doing earlier but it didn't seem like that was going to stop his suggestive comments.

I rolled my eyes and crawled up next to him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. "I want to stay like this; me and you, together for three months with nothing else to worry about. No school, no _former flames,_" he tickled my ribs playfully. "But no seriously, can't we just forget everything and go to Alaska instead?"

"You know that would be great but neither of us could give this stuff up even if we wanted to. It's the culmination of a lot of years of work. But I would like a getaway with you." I smiled up at him. "Maybe you can come and visit me in Chicago."

An expression that I couldn't place flickered across his face. "I think you would rather be in Europe, don't you? Now that's a vacation!" He attempted to cover up whatever he was feeling with his good-natured smile but after all of the things we had been through together in the past few months, I could read him pretty well.

"When are you going to talk to them, Peeta? I mean _really _talk to them." I sat up so that our eyes were level. "Don't you think things would be easier if-"

"Maybe you could stop by for me instead, you'll be a train ride from my dad's bakery, and he'll love you." I wasn't going to push him into talking about his relationship with his family if he didn't feel comfortable. I already knew that me being in his hometown was almost too close for comfort, there was no need to ruin our last few hours together with talk of the real world.

But then again, that was our problem.

"If his cheese buns are half as good as yours, I think we'll get along just fine." I hopped up off of the bed, teetering on the heeled ankle boots that I had yet to adjust to.

"Now come on, let's get to this party."

**Sorry for the wait on this chapter, y'all! I wanted to make it just a tad longer than usual (and with a little less drama), since it had been a while since my last update. Peeta and Katniss are braving some new territory here, huh? Hopefully it's enough to keep them for the next couple of months.**

**Preview: Within the next few chapters, we'll be saying goodbye to Madge, Jo, Finn and the whole gang and saying hello to Chicago and Europe. I'm excited!**


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